(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-emission road device that is set on a road at a center line or intersection and used for warning and visually guiding car drivers and pedestrians by emitting lights from light emitting elements using a power unit provided in the self-emission road device, thereby preventing traffic accidents.
(2) Related Art
Self-emission road devices have been used mainly for preventing traffic accidents. These self-emission road devices emit lights from internal light elements so that car drivers and pedestrians can clearly see certain positions such as a center line and a center of an intersection.
Such a self-emission road device has a main body and a protective board. The main body includes light emitting elements, such as light emitting diodes, and a power unit for supplying power for the light emitting elements. The protective board is set on the top of the main body, and has one or more light emitting faces. Here, each light emitting face is set on a different side of the protective board. The lights from the light emitting elements are emitted to the outside through the light emitting faces.
The self-emission road device is set on a road so that the protective board protrudes from the road surface, with the main body being buried in the ground. The lights from the light emitting elements are emitted to the outside through the light emitting faces. By means of the emitted lights, the drivers and pedestrians can clearly see certain positions at nighttime, such as a center line, a center of an intersection, and a pedestrian crossover.
In this example of related art, the lights passing through one light emitting face are emitted in the same direction. As such, this one kind of self-emission road device cannot be applied to all of various shapes of roads, such as a straight road and a curve. Hereinafter, the direction in which a light is emitted is referred to as the "emitting direction (of the light)."
In general, the self-emission road device is set so that the light emitting faces are almost horizontally perpendicular to the direction in which the road runs. Thus, when the self-emission road device is set on a straight road, it needs to be set so that emitting direction of the lights is perpendicular to the light emitting face. Meanwhile, when the self-emission road device is set on a curve, a horizontal angle formed between the emitting direction of the lights and the light emitting face needs to be appropriately set in accordance with the curve. For this reason, different kinds of self-emission road devices, each of which has a different emitting direction, need to be provided corresponding to the various shapes of roads.
Furthermore, prior to the setting of the self-emission road device on a road, the road needs to be checked to select a self-emission road device, out of the different kinds of self-emission road devices, that emits the lights in an optimum direction for the road. Accordingly, the self-emission road device has been set at much expense in time and effort.